Teachers a target in Mayor Bloomberg's budget cuts

The mayor will ask teachers to take a 2 percent pay raise, half of what the city usually offers during negotiations, to save $500 million in the Department of Education budget through the end of fiscal year 2011, which starts July 1. Otherwise, the mayor plans to reach that figure through a mix of attrition and layoffs.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg could cut 2,500 teachers and close up to 20 fire companies to help bridge a projected $4.93 billion budget gap next year, according to sources familiar with the preliminary fiscal year 2011 budget he will unveil tomorrow.

The mayor will ask teachers to take a 2 percent pay raise, half of what the city usually offers during negotiations, to save $500 million in the Department of Education budget through the end of fiscal year 2011, which starts July 1. Otherwise, the mayor plans to reach that figure through a mix of attrition and layoffs.

The mayor also will take the projected 1.25 percent pay hikes for other unions off the table, and instead propose basing those raises on savings negotiated through productivity, pension reform and health care givebacks.

The United Federation of Teachers' contract with the city expired in October, and the two sides are currently in contract negotiations.

The union expressed disdain earlier today.

"The UFT has a history of working with elected officials to find new revenues and to minimize the damage of budget cuts to schools and children. The mayor's proposal is simply unacceptable," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew in a written statement. Mulgrew added that they are still at "the beginning of the budget process."

It is unclear how the cuts would affect funding for new charter schools, or the additional administrative staff needed for PS 16 in Tompkinsville, which was ordered split into two schools by a Panel for Educational Policy vote Tuesday night.

Excluding the DOE, the spending plan calls for a headcount reduction of 4,286 city employees, with 934 through layoffs.

The plan does not envision layoffs of uniformed employees, which include firefighters, police officers, correction officers and Sanitation workers. But neither does it include funding for as many as 20 fire companies, including Engine 161 in South Beach. Engine 157 in Port Richmond also could be targeted for closure.

Though Bloomberg has recently acknowledged the economy has improved, it has not improved enough "to avoid difficult choices and real consequences," said Ed Skyler, deputy mayor for operations.

"We are avoiding a 'worst-case' scenario but need to take decisive action to close what was a $5 billion budget gap for the next fiscal year. The mayor is reaching out to our partners in labor so we can approach these challenges together and find ways to share the sacrifice," Skyler said in a released statement.

In November, the mayor ordered every agency to cut its budget by 4 percent this fiscal year and 8 percent the next year. Uniformed agencies were spared a bit, asked to cut 2 percent and then 4 percent; and the DOE was asked to cut 1.5 percent and 4 percent.

As a result, the mayor will announce a spending plan that saves a total $484 million in the current fiscal year and $1.12 billion in 2011.---twitter.com/siadvance